The Marrakesh Treaty in Action: What You Need to Know

On May 8, 2019, the United States
joins the list of 82 member nations that have fully ratified the long-awaited
Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who
Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled. If you are wondering exactly
what that means, you are not alone. This document outlines the basic provisions
and implications of the treaty, especially as it affects the Bookshare
community.

Background

The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted
to amend copyright law that prevented access to print works for print-disabled
people. Only about 7% of published works are made available globally in
accessible formats, and in the developing world, where 90% of blind and
visually impaired people reside, the figure is less than 1%. This problem is
partly due to limitations created by copyright law – limitations that the Treaty seeks
to remove. The key changes to the law ensure that an accessible format copy may
be made and supplied to a print-disabled person or an institution, such as a
library, within a country or across a national border to another ratifying
nation.

Timeline of
Ratification

June 27, 2013: The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled, was adopted by the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Marrakesh, Morocco

October 2, 2013: U.S. signs treaty as a contracting party

September 30, 2016: Marrakesh Treaty entered into force with 20 member states.

October 10, 2018: The Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act (MTIA) was signed by President Trump. The MTIA amends Section 121 of U.S. copyright law so that its terms are consistent with the Marrakesh Treaty and improve access to accessible materials

May 8, 2019: U.S. obligations go into effect

Changes to
U.S. Copyright Law Expand Types of Literary Works

Section 121 of the U.S. copyright law has been updated and
expanded to include dramatic works and musical scores in accessible formats.

What Does
this Mean for Bookshare Members in the U.S.?

Bookshare members in the U.S. already have access to over
700,000 books in 47 languages. In the coming months, Bookshare will be able to
import books from other Marrakesh-ratifying countries and make them available
to Bookshare members in the U.S.

What Does
this Mean for Bookshare Members in Marrakesh-Ratifying Countries Outside the U.S.?

Bookshare already shares 600,000 books (out of our total
collection of 700,000) with members around in the world. We can do this because
of the generosity of our publishing partners – they provide us with an
electronic copy of a book and they give us broad distribution rights, often
including international distribution rights. The Marrakesh Treaty allows us to
add approximately 100,000 more books to the collection that we can share with
eligible individuals in other Marrakesh-ratifying countries. These books were previously
available to U.S. members only.

The Treaty is a game changer for developing countries, many of
whom have a limited number of books in accessible formats like braille. These
countries will be able to import books from countries with large existing libraries.
For example, Marrakesh Treaty-ratifying countries in Latin America can import Spanish-language
books from Spain. Countries that use English in business and academia can
import books from large collections developed in English-speaking countries.
This free movement of accessible materials in dozens of different languages
addresses the book famine – the lack of accessible reading material – for eligible
people in every Marrakesh-ratifying country.

What’s Next?

Benetech engineers have been working diligently to prepare
the Bookshare platform for the import and export of books. At the same time, we
are working with other libraries around the world to make even more books
available. We have the opportunity to offer millions of titles to millions of
people in the format they want on a device they already have.

I am hopeful that expanding the accessible materials available to people with disabilities will cause “ripple effects” of increasing supply and demand. As the supply of accessible materials increases worldwide, additional countries will see the value and ratify the treaty. Publishers, in turn, will offer more books in accessible formats in order to reach a larger user base. The increased number of consumers—especially in developing nations—will stimulate the demand for books and for low-cost electronic devices.

We’ve been thrilled by Benetech’s ability to repeatedly reach scale in bridging Silicon Valley tech and social impact, and I’m proud to have supported them for the past 10 years.

Jeff Skoll, Founder and Chairman, The Skoll Foundation

Benetech’s credibility as a nonprofit focused on empowering social change is unique among the tech community. Their scalable technology solutions are recognized as driving real, sustainable social impact.

Kevin Lo, President, Genalyte, Inc.

Benetech has a long history of successful technology development for social good in California and around the world.

Peter Manzo, President and CEO, United Ways of California

We invested in Benetech Service Net because it enables us to more efficiently and accurately provide information on the community services our vulnerable patients need once they are discharged from our acute settings.

Pablo Bravo, Dignity Health Vice President of Community Health

As classrooms rapidly embrace digital learning environments, Benetech Mathshare promises to usher in a new area of digital math that better meets the needs of today’s learners and tomorrow’s employers.